WATERBURY -- Hundreds of people packed the gymnasium at the Jonathan E. Reed School on a sunny Sunday to dedicate the building.

Dressed in their Sunday best, there was the occasional "Amen" from people as they listened to speeches at the $48 million school at 33 Griggs St.

In a place of learning, city leaders and parishioners of Grace Baptist Church paid their respects to a learned man and humble leader who loved God. They also honored three other men for whom parts of the school and grounds are named.

Reed, the long serving pastor of Grace Baptist Church, was remembered as a man with a great thirst for learning which spanned his entire life, a great work ethic and a love for people and God.

Reed was a college professor before he enrolled at Yale Divinity School.

In 1943, he succeeded his father, Isaac, as pastor of Grace Baptist Church, where he led the congregation for four decades.

He served his community as a member of the Board of Education and as chaplain of the Waterbury Police Department, among other appointments.

His love and thirst for learning lasted his entire life, with educational interests expanding to sciences, math and languages. He was reportedly teaching himself Russian and Japanese at the time of his death in 1983.

The school was completed over the summer, and opened last month for the first day of school.

Other men were honored Sunday, including Corado "Babe" Ciarlo, whose house once stood on the school grounds. The school's media center is named after Ciarlo, a soldier, who was killed in World War ll.

The school's cafetorium is named after Dr. Stanley Lee Ralph, a musician, composer and one of the earliest African Americans to teach in the city's public schools.

An area in the school's courtyard called the Circle is named after the Rev. Louvernal McDaniel, a civic leader, organizer and pastor of Redeeming Love of Tabernacle Church for more than 25 years, whose life was cut short in a car accident near the place that now bears his name.

James Sanders, a community activist who led the campaign to name the school after Reed, praised the four men Sunday as being equally worthy as Reed.

"What a man!" he repeated as he praised each man.

Families of the men were present, and for Reed, his more extended church family attended.

The Grace Baptist Church Choir sang during the ceremony, and the Rev. Larry C. Green, Sr. gave the invocation.

As she has for more than 80 years, since the time her father was the pastor, Martha Price played the organ.

The 98-year old Price, from Springfield, Mass., is the youngest of five Reed children, and the only one still living.

Thin and slight, her fingers moved over the keys with ease. As she played, she never peaked at a music sheet. Perfect notes come from memory.

Had her brother been there Sunday, she said he would have been humbled.

"You people have been gracious to me and loving. I hope and pray I can live up to it," her brother would have said.

The dedication ceremony was "more than nice."

"It was excellent," Price said.

William E. Evans, a professor and administrator and friend of Reed, said he hopes Reed's spirit comes to the school so generations can share in Reed's thirst for learning and the values he lived by.

"We're deeply grateful for the honor bestowed this great man," Evans said.

Reed's niece, Deborah Price, said when family members were told the school would be named after Reed, they didn't believe it.

"We had a laugh," said the Springfield, Mass., resident.

The family saw the building rise and Reed's name placed over the entrance in gleaming letters.

"What an honor," Deborah Price said.

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wtbywtchdog wrote on Oct 1, 2012 10:19 PM:

" I can't believe the E.D. has nothing better to do then to slap themselves on the back and name pencil sharpeners.I would like to know how many officials and neighborhood leaders would go out back on a Sat. or Sun. morning and pickup the needles and condoms. "

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